


As Our Story Fades to Black

by fallingmistinthedark



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Hurt No Comfort, Sorry Not Sorry, blood and gore but it's not at all descriptive, canon compliant alternate universes, major character deaths, pain and suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-21 17:47:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingmistinthedark/pseuds/fallingmistinthedark
Summary: The paladins of this universe are doing fine... but what about the paladins of the other universes?





	As Our Story Fades to Black

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://duskisnigh.tumblr.com/tagged/continued-exploration-of-the-child-soldier-trope) tumblr post by duskisnigh

_I watched you slip right through my hands,_

_It shouldn't have gone like this_ , is all Lance can think as his ears ring with the sound of the shot that had Shiro falling forward. For Lance, it had happened in slow motion, from the first glimpse of the sniper's barrel, to the moment the bullet struck Shiro's armor, breaking into a handful of shattered pieces. Lance felt numb as he watched Shiro pitch backward, hitting the ground with a resounding thud. _This shouldn't be happening,_ was Lance's only thought as he pulled the trigger, hitting the sniper right in the head. He dropped his bayard, as Shiro's turned to it's original form, and rushed to Shiro's side. 

"Shiro...," Lance choked, even as he heard Shiro give the final death rattle, to far gone to hear Lance call out for him, time and time again. "Please... plea-!" Lance yelled, lopping his arms under Shiro's in an attempt to drag the man back to Blue and the Castle. Lance tripped as he stood up, feeling all his strength leave him as he hit the ground. 

"-I can't carry you-," Lance sobbed, bringing a hand up to his mouth, as if to try to block the sound of his own sobs. "-I can't." He felt the tears come harder as he tried again, getting just barely farther each time. They were so far away from their lions. At this rate, Shiro would definitely be dead ( _if he wasn't already_ ).

"-The team needs you-," Lance hiccuped as he tried, again, and again, and again. He felt the building around them start to shake under the barrage of Blue and Black. Lance felt Blue's grief and anger hit him as the world blurred. "-The team-we-"

Lance could tell by the way Shiro was dead weight in his arms. He was gone. Lance sobbed harder, refusing to give up on at least bringing his body back to the rest of the team. This was his fault. The least he could do was take his body back to be put to rest, rather than leaving it behind in a place Lance knew Shiro would have hated. 

"Please-... please-" Lance hiccuped, continuing his slow procession of death. The building continuing to shake. In front of him, the ceiling opened up, filling the corridor with a light too bright to be real. Lance collapsed under the weight of his own grief as Blue scooped them up. _**Sleep**_ , Blue commanded him. He did, tears streaming down his face as guilt threatened to consume him.

~

_Held your arms around my back,_

Shiro felt it when he saw Pidge slam into the wall on the other side of the room. She'd been fighting one of the new druid-enhanced Galra commanders alone, because Shiro had been stupid enough to get surrounded by a large group of sentries. He'd thought she would be okay. He had been wrong, he knew, when he looked over and saw Pidge hesitate. That was all it'd taken for the commander to slam his large gauntlet type weapon into her small frame. 

And, as he'd said, he'd felt it when she'd hit the wall. A crater appeared in the metal wall behind her as she coughed out blood, eyes wide in surprise and pain. Her eyes slid shut as she crumpled to the ground. 

That's when Shiro stopped thinking, and went into a blind rage, determined more than anything to reach her, screaming her name. Images of her at the Holt dinner he'd been invited to years ago flashed in his mind. She'd been so young, determined, bright, and with her whole future ahead of her then. She didn't deserve any of this, he thought, as he dispatched the commander. He was by her side before the body even hit the floor. He scooped her up in his arms, feeling everything go numb when her head flopped against his chest, and with how light she was as he started sprinting to Black. 

"Stay awake for me, Katie," He pleaded, when he saw her eyelids flutter. He picked up the pace, knowing she wouldn't last much longer. He had to get her back to the Castle before she ran out of time. His only response was a half formed, garbled sentence that sounded like, "Le- m- sl-p."

"You said you had a new lead on Matt," Shiro rushed out, trying to fit everything in so she could hear him. She jerked against him at the name. His heart clenched with how much she was fighting. He turned the corner, getting closer every step to their Lions. "We still have to find him, yeah?" He asked desperately, vision blurring dangerously as Black as the exit came into view. 

"Tell h-m ho- co-l I w-as," Pidge said, sagging against him. His grip on her tightened. He'd promised himself he would keep her safe until she could find Matt. He would not fail both Holts. He refused to. 

"Katie, no! Stay awake for me, please! We're almost there!" He yelled as Pidge's mouth relaxed into a small smile, and her quivers stopped. "NO!" Everything shook as Black roared with him. 

~

_Like a soldier marches on...,  
you are my battle song,_

Tears are streaming down Pidge's face before she fully registers the fact that Keith just took that blast for her. Her arms are out before he starts to fall, and they go down together, her holding him in a futile attempt to ease the fall. Scrambling up, blind with rage, Pidge shoots behind the tank sentry and tears it apart in the span of a minute. She's angry at it, angry at herself, and angry at Keith. But mostly at herself because _how could she be so stupid and slip up like that?_

Tears coming faster, she drags him up to the wall of the base they'd just finished shutting down. Shutting down everything except that lone tank sentry, it seemed. Nothing she could do was good enough to protect her friends. Carefully, she set him against the wall. Lifting his arm in her shaking hands, she tries to look for a pulse. "I'm going to stop the bleeding," She says after a moment, because it seems that it's all she can say without falling apart, if she gives herself something to do, a promise to keep. 

When he doesn't respond, she continues on talking, praying to anything that Keith will just respond with anything, or at least stay with them long enough to get back to a pod, "Hunk will be here in 1 dobash and 15 ticks, Keith, please."

She buries her head against his chest, shaking him ever so slightly in the hopes that he'll just wake up, and she can tell him everything will be alright, even when they both know it's not. "You're gonna be okay," she whispers, because it's all she can think to say now. It's a lie to herself and everything around them, she knows, as Red's mournful cries fill the dead air. "You're gonna be okay."

Maybe if she says it enough times it'll come true. 

~

_Like a sunset,_ _so much beauty held within_ _But light goes out and darkness wins,_

"No!" Keith hears distantly as the flash of light sets everything around them ablaze. Before his vision comes back, he hears the thud, and feels the weight of something against his feet. He knows what, no who, it is. He swallows, jumping over it and rushing the druid holding the quintessence hand cannon. A scream of agony that he vaguely recognizes as his fills the space, and the druid goes down with barely a motion. 

Keith stumbles back to Hunk, who lies on the ground, eyes closed with a faint smile on his face. Keith drops to his knees, dropping his bayard and and doing his best to sit Hunk upright against one of the crates that line the cargo room they'd been fighting in. Keith shakes Hunk a little, not registering the way Hunk's head flops back and forth, instead trying so desperately hard to get his friend to wake up. 

"Damn it!" Keith chokes out, feeling all hope leave him. He's crying before he can bring his arm up to block his eyes. "Why did you try to save me!" Keith hisses, not even angry at Hunk. He's only angry at himself for not being faster to tell the boy he would've been okay. That he could've dodged it. But now, now, Hunk's hurt badly and Keith has no way of contacting the Castle. No way of saving him. 

"Open your eyes!" Keith pleads, cries turning into full on sobs as he wraps his arms around the boy's broad frame. It doesn't feel the same without the trademarked Hunk warmth. "Please, wake up!" Keith pleads, to a person who won't ever hear again. Won't hear Pidge's brilliant ideas, nor Lance's worries or jokes, or Keith's thanks, or Shiro's praise. Because he won't wake up, but Keith still pleads, pleads until his voice goes out and Lance comes and finds them, face a stone mask as he speaks into his helmet. Keith doesn't stop crying until he's forced into a healing pod, and everything becomes nothing all at once. 

~

_I carried you,  
Till I buried you,_

The bomb had gone off before Hunk realized there was a bomb. And it had caught both Lance and him unawares. He felt the rubble on top of him, though his arm was free. He strained his neck to look desperately for Lance. Any sign of Lance, really. His throat closed up when he finally did catch sight of Lance. Or, Lance's arm. Lance's entire body was under a huge pile of rubble. 

"H-hold on, buddy," Hunk said, voice scratchy, not quite sounding like his own. Hunk hoped to God Lance was conscious. He knew from Basic Field Medical Training that if he wasn't his friend was as good as dead. especially with the circumstances he found himself in. He couldn't move the rubble off of him, and he couldn't reach Lance. Hunk choked back a sob as he continued to talk, praying that Lance would offer some sort of noise, anything to let Hunk know he was awake and okay. Anything, God! Anything! He'd take anything at this point! Even a twitch of Lance's fingers. "We gotta go home, remember?"

Hunk was rewarded for that with nothing. Absolute and utter silence. Hunk felt the tears before he realized he'd started to cry. "They're all waiting for you," Hunk sobbed as the reality of it all came crashing down on him. "We gotta go back."

"Make a sound if you can hear me, Lance," Hunk pleaded, finger stretching uselessly towards his friends. Rubble shifted around them, not quite settled yet. "Oh God," Hunk sobbed when he heard nothing. _All your fault_ Hunk's mind whispered, making him freeze, because it was true. He was the engineer, he should have known there was a bomb and done _something_ , anything to prevent this from ever happening. _All your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your fault, all your faul-_

The sound of a lion, roaring in defiance and grief, sounding so close yet so far. Just like his fingertips. Just like this morning, when Lance was still alive, and Hunk could still talk with him. 

~

_Now a memory's all I have,_

_As our story fades to black..._

\- Destiny ~ Generdyn Music

**Author's Note:**

> not beta'd and kinda rushed because this inspired me so much in a matter of seconds, and i wanted to get it done so i could finish my homework! this one goes out to you, duskisnigh! <3
> 
> pain, pain, all i know is pain - misty, 2K17


End file.
